The Vice chairman of the Rivers Parent Association, Chief Emma Deemua, yesterday told journalists in Port Harcourt that illegal production of fuel in the state is the cause of the high cost of the product.
“Unless these illegal refineries operating in all nooks and cronies are adequately halted, the high cost of fuel cannot be reduced”, he stated.
Chief Deemua was of the view that most of the sales of petrol in jerry cans on the streets of Port Harcourt and environs are made available to the hawkers by illegal dealers and because of long queues at Mega Filling Stations, the hawkers inflate their sales to an unaffordable level.
“I was glad when Government placed ban on sale of fuel in jerry cans but to my greatest surprise, the ban was not followed up and the sales continued till now,” he emphatically stated.
The Vice Chairman wondered why government policy cannot be followed by security agents, CDCs and other forces that work in consonance with the government.
Secondly, he said “it is the handwork of opposition parties who do not want anything to succeed in this part of the country”.
“It is my fervent view that government should continue with the ban on sales of fuel in jerry cans and flush out illegal production of petrol,” he said, adding that as long as we continue to encourage “black market” there will be no better way out.
